


Tales of Elsen With Wide Eyes and Scars

by GhostySoldier



Category: OFF (Game)
Genre: Heavily related to OFF fangames, Multi, just a small bunch of drabbles for my friend Calv, just for fun really, nothing really big or storyline-y
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-27
Updated: 2015-06-01
Packaged: 2018-03-19 21:36:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 2,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3625101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GhostySoldier/pseuds/GhostySoldier
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A small series of drabbles for a friend of mine, mostly involving our Elsen OCs from our fangames. Yeah, you likely won't see many canon characters if at all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Two Minds, One Vision

They both tended to see things that weren’t truly there. Shadows of the past, they claimed to see. Old friends and loved ones in Toffee’s case...and nobody was quite sure about Daren, except Danny. They never talked about it, however. Sometimes, one would hallucinate near the other, and they’d have to ease them through it, comforting them.

Rarely, both of them would begin to hallucinate at the same time. Daren backing into the wall to try to get away from the shadows plaguing him with blame and doubt, Toffee followed along and clung onto him, sobbing as he begged for Matty to leave him alone.

Shaking, clinging tightly to each other, they sought comfort in each other’s presence, the only one they could recognize in that moment. Toffee looked into Daren’s eyes, tears falling from his own, as he leaned close, nuzzling their foreheads together. He thought he felt Matty trying to tear him away from Daren, so he brought Daren closer to his chest, wrapping his arms around him.

“N-no! I w-won’t let you hurt him! He’s all I have!” He cried out, rubbing Daren’s back as he felt the other shaking. The ghosts of the past kept circling him, and he wheezed in fear, a stream of smoke escaping him. He shook and tried to comfort Daren despite his own fear and pain.

Shadows danced around them that only they could see, until eventually, Daren saw past them, and they disappeared at last. Toffee remained trapped, clinging onto Daren like a lifeline. Daren didn’t know what to do, he wasn’t the best at comforting, but he tried, kissing Toffee softly, caressing his soft cheeks.

Showing his love and affection for his fellow Elsen, he soon brought Toffee out of the visions. They’d made it one more day. It wasn’t the first time they had hallucinations together, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last.

 

 


	2. Scar After Scar

Being a revolutionary was an occupational hazard. Every failed attempt to bring down Dedan resulted in near death, and more scars added to his battered body. Cinnamon knew it would be hard, but he insisted on trying to do it alone, not wanting his friends to get hurt for his sake. Every time he’d come back, soaked in his own blood and half-dead, it’d be Danny that would rush forward to tend to his wounds.

Danny never scolded him for his stupidity, only wishing that he’d be more careful, cracking jokes about Dedan to make Cinnamon smile as he wrapped the luck tickets and bandages around the wounds that covered the violet-eyed Elsen’s body. That’s what he did, he was there to make those he cares about happy. That was Danny’s little quirk, what made him himself. That’s what Cinnamon loved about him most.

Relaxing against the wall, another night of recovery down, Cinnamon decided it was time to change the newest set of bandages. Danny helped him, sighing a little when he saw the fresh scars. Cinnamon looked away, biting his lip. “..I’m sorry, Danny. I’m sorry I’m so weak and stupid. Getting myself damn near killed every time..left with these goddamn scars…”

“Hey, hey now!” Danny cupped Cinnamon’s face, looking into those eyes, which were slowly losing the light of hope he always had. “Don’t you give up on me, Cinna. You’re getting stronger every time. Your scars show how strong you are, to have survived all that. And it all started when you were just a typical worker.”

He set his hand on Cinnamon’s thigh, where he knew Cinnamon’s first scar was; the old troquantary bite wound. Any average Elsen would have burned. Cinnamon not only did not Burn, he survived and continued on to work even harder than ever…

Cinnamon slowly looked at Danny and sighed. “..Danny..You’re right. Ahhaa...I..”

Hesitation. Grasping the other by his tie, he pulled him close into a kiss, kissing his lips and moving up to kiss the scar over Danny’s left eye. A moment of intimacy that wouldn’t be forgotten.

No words were spoken for the rest of the night, where the two shared only contact, kisses here and there, Danny tending to Cinnamon’s many scars, until they fell asleep in each other’s arms.

The first thing Cinnamon said when he awoke in the morning was,

“Danny. I want you to fight beside me next time.”

“Of course, I thought you’d never ask!”


	3. Accident

“It was an accident! I..I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to, I swear!”

Daren’s lifeless body lay on the floor, bruises on his already scarred neck, eyes staring blankly into nothing. Toffee stood beside it, legs shaking and he stared in horror at his own hands, still shaken from the realization of what he had done. Daren’s twin brother, Danny, stared at the scene with grief-stricken panic in his eyes.

Toffee had been hallucinating, seeing Daren as Matty, believing he was trying to hurt or kill him. He’d acted in defense, strangling the one he saw as Matty, and when he finally came to his senses, it was too late for Daren. He let out a broken sob, looking at Danny fearfully of what he might do to him.

“I’m sorry, I’m so so sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt him, or k-kill him, I never wanted this! Please, believe me! I..I didn’t realize it was him until it was too late!”

Danny shakily laughed in a bitter attempt to hide his pain. Make the others happy, keep them smiling, he’d always told himself. But how could he do that when he himself was breaking down? “I..I understand, Toffee. You, seein’ stuff all the time n’ all that.. Y-yeah, I..I d-don’t blame you.”

His forced smile stayed on, before he shook his head and let out a grief-filled scream. He fell to his knees, curling up on the floor and trembling, smoking from his mouth and ears. Toffee backed up in fear when he realized what was happening. Danny was Burning.

Toffee couldn’t help but stare in horror as Danny was consumed by the black smoke, his face contorting into a permanent grin and hands transforming into sharp claws. Slowly, almost like he was being pulled by strings, Danny stood, laughing.

**“You killed him. He’s dead because of you! Such a tragedy in this story, but let’s not let the romance go on like this, why don’t you join him and complete the sad circle?”**

The Burnt lunged at Toffee, who screamed and fell back against the wall, sobbing. “Danny, no, please, I’m sorry!” he cried to no avail. The other was lost in madness right then. There was no way to stop him. Slash after slash as blood painted the wall, the tragedy continued.

Eventually, Danny reverted from his Burnt form back to normal, shaking slightly as he felt the warm blood soaking his clothes.

He saw his brother’s body, and then the torn open and bleeding body of Toffee laid down beside him. He easily put two and two together on how he had gotten covered in blood, and how Toffee had died, and he sank to the floor once more, trembling.

“It was an accident…” he whispered to no one.


	4. Lies

When he came home with all those scars, more than usual, he’d said he was going to be just fine. Now, the scar on his eye and the scar on his cheek had made him stand out, accompanied by a twisted grin filled with madness.

He wasn’t fine at all.

The first time Danny had encountered the other after he gained those scars, Cinnamon had laughed that they match now, calling him to join him in overthrowing Dedan. Though Danny knew something was off, declining. He wished he hadn’t, oh, how he wished he hadn’t.

He’d opened hell upon his own little world, finding his brother taken away and tortured until he gave in and joined the corrupted revolutionary, being tortured as well as punishment.

“If you’re a good boy, you and your brother can go home soon as we force Dedan into surrender.” Cinnamon had purred, holding him against the wall and stroking his cheek. “Now, be a good boy and steal some supplies for us.”

Fearing what would happen to Daren if he refused, Danny complied. Cinnamon began demanding more and more out of him, more and more terrible things, to capture and torture others, hostages Cinnamon called them. And soon enough he started asking him to “dispose of the unneeded.”

“Wh..what do you mean by that?” Danny spoke with a wavering voice, hoping Cinnamon didn’t mean what he thought he meant. “Kill them.” was the lilting reply, the revolutionary smirking as he added, “And do it painfully.”

Danny drew the line there. “No! I can’t do it! I won’t do that, Cinnamon!”

“Oh, I guess you don’t want your brother to live, then?”

There it was, that one string tying him to Cinnamon that had quickly turned into a noose around his neck. Daren. He had to protect Daren and try to keep him alive. No matter what. When lives began to be cut down permanently, work coming to a standstill, Dedan knew he had lost. He gave in and Cinnamon assumed control of the zone. Danny finally saw Daren, as Cinnamon tossed his brother out of the room he’d kept him in, and tears came to his eyes. Daren was so thin, bruised and scarred from Cinnamon’s abuse and control.

Taking his twin into his arms and trying to ease his trembling sobs, he looked up at Cinnamon with heartbroken fury. “..You won, Cinna. N-now let us go home.”

“I don’t think so. You’re in my zone now, and you’ve proven to be a good worker...perhaps your brother will be the same way?”

He’d lied. Again.


	5. Renew - BAD END

He hadn’t expected to see him again. After the brief encounter in Zone 4, he’d expected the revolutionary to just head home and remain there. It wasn’t long before the elsen with the skewed tie visited him once again. Danny was surprised, but he welcomed his return. The two would talk for hours before the revolutionary headed back to Zone 1, and this repeated for months, almost daily.

He remembered how his heart thumped when Cinnamon had told him he loved him, and that he knew he felt the same. Danny vividly remembered their first kiss beneath the red velvet skies, and their four years of a loving relationship.

One day, Cinnamon didn’t show up. News soon followed of Dedan’s death, and fluctuations in Zone 1, and a strange man with a bat threatening the zones. Danny didn’t like the sounds of that. Hoshi even left the zone to search for Cinnamon, calling Taylor in to supervise the zone.

Predictably, the criminal Bandit escaped after Hoshi left. Things were just spiraling out of control by this point.

Danny remembered the last time he saw Cinnamon. In a fight against that man with the bat, until he was struck down and everything was engulfed in white...then Nothingness.

 

 


	6. Matty

Sometimes Daren wondered if Toffee truly saw him when they were together. He wondered if Toffee just saw his old boyfriend Matty in his place. The dead Elsen was constantly lingering and tormenting Toffee’s mind, after all. Perhaps Toffee still loved him, and Daren was just a placeholder.

He doubted. His doubts grew with every time Toffee brought up Matty, whether through a breakdown or otherwise. The name became a sharp blade to Daren’s heart. Matty. Matty, Matty, Matty. It hurt him to even think of the name. He wondered if he should confront Toffee, about his feelings.

He contemplated this in the middle of the night, lying awake in bed while Toffee slept beside him. In his sleep, the smaller Elsen was mumbling things. _Probably about Matty…_ Daren thought sadly. The little Elsen rolled over and clung to him, a source of warmth. Deep in his dream, Toffee murmured, “Daren, don’t leave me… I love you…”

His doubts faded just from that. He knew, Matty had hurt Toffee long ago, and Toffee loved him for not being like Matty.


	7. Chase

Some people might call it a form of Stockholm Syndrome, considering he fell for one of his cell guards. It wasn’t a normal thing by their standards. He had to admit though, the Elsen with the scar over his eye was attractive. That constant grin charmed him, even if the Elsen’s smile turned bitter when near him. That Elsen, that Danny, hated him.

He supposed it was just expected, he had tried to cause a crisis with a deadly virus of his own design, after all. In his defense, Zone 4 needed some business for the hospital. The place was far too calm for his liking. It unsettled him. Now, being trapped in a cell in that same calm, he hated it!

He needed to get out. He needed to escape before it drove him mad. Danny would have an eye on him at all times during his watch, so it’d have to be when another Elsen was keeping guard. He managed to slip the keys from the guard Elsen’s pocket, and unlocked his cell. He made short work of the guard, knocking him out before he made a break for it. The elevator ride went swiftly, and soon Bandit had bolted out the doors of the observatory. “COMING THROUGH!” he shouted, Elsen darting out of his path, and he paused at a crossroads, looking around.

“HEY!” A familiar voice shouted, and he turned.

There he was. Danny. It was easier to see him now without cell bars in the way. Danny’s face was slightly rounded on the cheeks, his wide grey eyes staring right at him full of the hate he’d gotten so used to. The scar on the left eye was still there, still dark, a mark of past hardship. Danny’s shirt was untucked and lazily buttoned, his tie hanging loose around his neck. That messy style Bandit loved so much. Then he remembered what was at stake if he hesitated too long. His freedom.

He took a step back.

“Don’t. You. Dare.” Danny spat angrily, fists clenched.

Bandit took another step. “BYE!” He shouted, and turned on his heel, darting off as fast as he could.

“GET BACK HERE!” Danny shouted, and ran after him.

The chase was on. Bandit running to the red box, to the Nothingness, and into Zone 3. He knew the Zone was still being remodeled and reformed, and perhaps full of hiding places. He heard Danny’s steps not far behind him, and he picked up the pace. He had to throw the Elsen off his trail before he could hope to hide. Finding an opening, into the sugar tubes he went, feet clanging against the grated metal floor. The heat burned at his body, at his lungs, and from Danny’s labored breathing behind him, he suspected it was hurting the other too.

Running ever faster, he tumbled out of the pipes and hit the floor on his side. He heard Danny land beside him with a groan of pain, and he looked at the scarred Elsen. His single eye watching the other, he noticed the red on his cheeks and how his sides heaved with every exhausted breath. For perhaps just a moment, it could be possible to rest. Bandit let out soft breaths, and slowly got to his feet, seeing Danny’s eyes open and glare at him. He had to run again, run as fast as he could, even though his lungs and legs protested for him to stop. They ran through a dark hallway, a passage of sorts, and he ran out through a gap in the wall and past piles and piles of sugar. He heard Danny shout, but didn’t register the words. The other had fallen behind for one reason or another, he’d won the chase. He ran onward and onward until he found a place to hide.

The chase was over for now.


End file.
